Welcome weight loss warriors. Doesn't that sound great? I have some exciting news. Well sorry for this long post but I wanted to share as many details as I possibly could. So for the exciting news scroll to the bottom if you don't want to read all of this.
I was inspired by Dusty from All Things GandD to start this Whole Living 2012 Challenge. I read what she and some of her friends and followers have done and gone through. I debated back and forth if I should do this. Believe me I dragged my feet and kept putting it off. Thank you Dusy for inspiring me and doing this. I'm not even sure how I ever found her blog, but thankful I did.
Ok this started out harder than I thought it was going to. Sorry, but I got the days mixed on my last post. I ended going grocery shopping last Monday and that itself was a chore and task. Then the preparing of the foods. Well I took the easy way out with a soup. Our Whole Foods had a cauliflower greenbean soup that was Challenge friendly and already realizing the task I had on hand of chopping and making smoothies I thought this would be good.
I don't have a juicer and decided to make smoothies. I work 12 hour days and I wasn't sure how the day would go for me. I need to bring all the food I need to eat. There are days where you barely get a lunch let alone time to snack. Since I was dealing with my tooth issues I couldn't really eat nuts -- well unless I smash them up before I eat them. Ha!
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| oranges, coconut water, frozen rasberries, frozen berries, carrots, cuties, pomengranite juice, baby spinach, cherry tomatoes, cauliflower greenbean soup, green onions, bean sprouts, celery, lettuce, broccoli, cucumber, sweet potato, blueberries, raspberries, radishes, honeydew melon, apples |
I think I listed all the food and guess what I didn't even buy everything I needed. We went to 3 places as well. I didn't have my list. We went to the grocery when I didn't expect it.
So what was missing? Lemons, Bananas, Mangoes, Cauliflower, Chia or hemp seeds, Almonds and nuts, Detox tea, toasted sesame seeds, I need more coconut water, basil, chives, tarrogon, fresh carrot juice, orange juice, lime juice, raisins, onions, garlic, ginger, turmeric, cinnamon, cardamom, butternut squash, vegetable broth, and 1 can light coconut milk.
First, I am a healthy eater. But not as healthy as this challenge wanted me to be for a week. I was shocked at what I spent -- $140 just for food for me. Wow. But with our out-to-eat-budget plus grocery budget we ware still under budget. Fruits and vegetables in Hawaii are more expensive than the mainland. I think if I did better planning I could have saved more money. And I still have to buy more. But I made due with what I had. I found out that if I go to farmer's markets I can find produce for a lot better price, but that's a 45 minute or longer drive to some places. But it's a place that I can find gluten free bread. Some of the items will go into next week thankfully.
So week 1 became what I will call the Vegan week. No processed food or beverages, added sugar, dairy, gluten, caffeine, and alcohol. What I can eat is fruits, vegetables, and plant-based fats, including nuts, seeds, and oils.
So my plan was to:
- Breakfast -- First thing hot water with lemon. Then a Smoothie and fruit
- Snack – veggies – cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, celery, carrots, green peppers. Once my mouth can handle it I'll add in a handful of nuts. Fruit if needed.
- Lunch – Salad of lettuce, spinanch, bean sprouts, cherry tomatoes, green onions, radishes and sunflower seeds. Another option could be the sweet potato, celery and apple salad from the Whole Living web site.
- Snack – Smoothie. Veggies just in case I get hungry. A piece of fruit if needed.
- Dinner – Soup and salad or roasted veggies like broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus and sweet potato
- Snack -- If needed fruit or veggie
Sadly to say that plans don't work out when I work 12 hours and get crazy buzy.
Tuesday - Week 1, Day 1
- Breakfast -- smoothie antioxident with water, pomengrante juice, mixed frozen berries. 1/4 of a honeydew.
- Snack -- missed out. Too busy.
- Lunch -- Salad of lettuce, spinanch, bean sprouts, cherry tomatoes, green onions, radishes and sunflower seeds. Cuties clementine.
- Snack -- the rest of my smoothie. Part of my veggies -- cumcumbers, celery and carrots
- Dinner -- Cauliflower greenbean soup - I didn't really like it tasted and I have 2 more nights of it. 1/4 of honeydew -- something I looked forward to.
I was satisified until about 5 - 6 and was starving. That's when I started snacking on my veggies. It was hard to do because I couldn't really take a break. I was getting a little dizzy and not feeling well. So by the time I got home at 8 pm I was starving. That cauliflower greenbean soup was hard for me to eat. By the end I was gagging. I guess I am not a big cauliflower lover.
End of day accomplished with no cheating. But I did dream about a beef stew. i'm not sure why, it just sounded so good. I'm trying to stay committed to this. I avoided tempation by a coworker who brought in freshly baked rolls. It was so hard to resist, but I did. Then a family brought in chocolate chip macadamia nut cookies. Do you know that's one of my favorite cookies? Then a coworker eating my favorite creamy swiss cheese and she offered me one and I said no thank you.
I had to send Mr. P out to buy some lemons. I didn't have any for hot water and lemon. I needed bananas too. I never got to pick up an detox tea.
6 more days of this! Can I do it? I'm going to try.
Wednesday -- Day 2
- Breakfast -- Orange berry smoothie. Did not taste good. How can 3 fruits I love be combined into something not so tasty? It had raspeberries, blueberries, and oranges. Didn't finish it. Not sure if I added orange juice if it would taste better. Honeydew melon. How I love that melon.
- Snack -- missed it. :( so busy at work.
- Lunch -- Salad of lettuce, spinanch, bean sprouts, cherry tomatoes, green onions, radishes and sunflower seeds. Banana
- Snack -- missed it.
- Late snack -- banana and an apple.
- Dinner -- Cauliflower greenbean soup again. Not liking it any better. Some honeydew melon.
Reality check -- it was hard. I try to drink water throughtout the day, but it gets hard when I get so busy at work. I really need to focus on that. I was hungry by lunch. Over hungry actually. My salad was satisfying and so was that banana. But by the afternoon I was dragging and had a headache. I took ibuprofen because it was pounding. That didn't really help. I really think I need more protein (note to self add in more seeds and nuts) and am not sure how the next 5 days will be. Before I went to bed my head was pounding. They say this is part of the detox, but honestly I think it has to do with not eating enough (missing snacks) and lack of protein. I could be wrong though.
Thurdsay -- Day 3
- Breakfast -- smoothie orange berry stuff. Only could finish 1/2 of it. That's 1/2 of 1/2 so 1/4. Not good to not get enough at breakfast. Mooshy fruit no flavor. Honeydew melon.
- Snack -- Banana
- Lunch -- Salad of lettuce, spinanch, bean sprouts, cherry tomatoes, green onions, radishes pumpkin seeds, and sunflower seeds. Banana and clementine.
- Snack -- Orange. I just couldn't finish that smoothie from this morning.
- Dinner -- 2 bananas, 1 clementine, some sunflower seeds and pistachio nuts. The soup didn't sound appealing and I wasn't in the mood for it.
I really need to have a back up dinner if the one I am having doesn't work out. It's so important to eat during this time.
I drank more water so that was good. I made sure to get enough water. I drank 2 liters. I didn't have as rough of day at work so that was nice and enabled me to eat my snacks. I can't tell if I'm feeling better. I wasn't as tired as I usually am on my 3rd day of working. Maybe it's working, but I had a headache and had to take 2 ibuprofen. I need to make dinners I look foward to. Do you see how much I love bananas? Ha! I didn't eat enough food.
Friday -- Day 4
Woke up with a headache. I was exhausted. Thankful to have the day off. I made a goal to drink a lot of water and met that goal.
- Breakfast -- Mixed Green Smoothie for vibrant skin. It was okay I could taste the spinach I used. After a few sips it wasn't so bad, but really had to force myself to drink it. I had 1/2 of a banana too.
- Snack-- Veggies and pistachio nuts
- Lunch -- Salad of lettuce, spinanch, bean sprouts, cherry tomatoes, green onions, radishes pumpkin seeds, and sunflower seeds. Fruit salad of blueberries, raspberries and bananas.
I shared this picture on Facebook and wow everyone thought it looked good. At a normal time when I'm not restricting myself this would have been great. But when you can't have anything and everything you want you want something else........ like a hamburger and fries would have been good. Ha!
Snack -- The rest of my mixed green smoothie. 2nd time wasn't any better. Ugh I had more to drink because I didn't even it out in the morning. After a few sips it got better. I thought maybe it's the green color that's throwing me off. I keep thinking of the good glowing skin I'll have. Orange.
- Dinner -- Carrot soup. Orange.
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| 1 small onion sauteed in 3 tablespoons of olive olive oil on medium heat for 5 mins |
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| added garlic and sauteed for an additonal minute |
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| Addded 4 cups of carrots and 1 small apple for 3 minutes |
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| Added 4 cups of vegetable stock, brought to a boil, then simmered on low for 30 mintues |
Then I let the soup rest for 10 mins. Then puree it. Be careful if using a blender to only fill 1/2 way and allow steam to escape. You could add salt and pepper to taste. Add a pinch of nutmeg. It really needs spices. I used a recipe I found on Joy the Baker. Ta-da I'm a sort of chef. Ha!
I so could have used some bread to eat with this. But not allowed yet. The soup wasn't so bad, but not fulfilling if you get my drift.
End of day -- This isn't easy to do, but it's not hard to do either. I think about my health and what's best for it. Just 3 more days. Just 3 and I can add in more stuff and have more variety. I say to be truly successful stick with this no matter what. So make sure you get that bad food out of your house. And say no to anything offered to you.
I'm not feeling that glow and energy that Dusty felt. Bring it on is all I can say. I'll have to check out the first year she did it and see what she had to say. I tend to eat healthy so doing this might not bring out the radical change some people get.
Don't get me wrong I keep asking why I got myself into it. I keep reminding myself for my health. Mr. P had to eat his dinner out because I didn't want food he was eating around me. This weekend is going to be tough. Seriously by the end of the night I wasn't feeling well. Can I keep doing this?
Don't get me wrong I keep asking why I got myself into it. I keep reminding myself for my health. Mr. P had to eat his dinner out because I didn't want food he was eating around me. This weekend is going to be tough. Seriously by the end of the night I wasn't feeling well. Can I keep doing this?
I woke up feeling better, not as bad as yesterday. I actually had a little more energy. I added up my calories from yesterday and it was about 1300. So I'm getting enough calories. Not feeling well may be the detox flu. I need to buy more fruit. It seems if I have fruit I look forward to then I can do this program. Mr. P headed out and bought some peaches and bananas for me.
Smoothies have been a miss for me. I need to find one that I look forward to drinking and not dreading. 4 days down surely I can do another 3. I need to buy some nuts and more sunflower seeds. I forget this is where I get my protein from.
I need to focus on my health and that I need to lose weight. This is detoxing my body so it's a good thing.
- Breakfast -- Antioxident smoothie. So far my favorite of any I've tried, but that's only been 3. ha! Banana
- Snack-- Orange.
- Lunch -- Salad with green lettuce and spinach, green onion, cherry tomatoes, bean sprouts, lemon juice, sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds. Fruit salad with blueberries, raspberries, peaches and bananas.
- Snack -- The rest of the antioxident smoothie. 1/4 of peach.
Still hungry and not dinner time. I'v been drinking lots of water too. Darn should have had Mr. P buy nuts this morning. So I had a clementine and a banana.
- Dinner -- Fruit salad. Handful of almonds and cashews. It was hard watching Mr. P. eat a Belgian waffle and eggs. He ate bacon but I don't eat pork and think it's gross so that didn't bother me. Oh how that waffle smelled so good.
Day ended with a headache and 2 ibuprofen.
Two more days to go. I start out at the beginning of the day okay, but by the end of the day before dinner I just want real food. What's up with that? I bought some nuts as I was out and I think I need more protein to make me feel like I'm fuller longer. I didn't think I was getting enough calories but if I add in nuts I am fine. I passed by those darn cheesy poufs 2xs when we got the nuts. I passed you right up cheesy poufs.
2 more days I can do it.
Sunday -- Day 6
It's the oddest thing. If I can make it through dinner and the evening to sleep I'm fine. I wake up in the morning not hungry and ready to meet this challenge. Odd. I'm not going to lie. It takes all of my willpower to just not grab something I shouldn't eat and eat it. But am I wanting something because I'm truly hungry or just because I'm bored and want it. Well last night the nuts helped. I think I'm missing chewy stuff. Fruits and vegetables can be chewy and cruchy but not the same as bread or rice. Well as I write this I'm not even sure what I am missing.
- Breakfast -- 1/2 of a banana. Smoothie -- 1 cup pomegranite juice, 1 cup water, 1/2 cup frozen raspberries, 1/2 banana and 1 cup of strawberries. I threw in a few ice cubes to make it extra chilly and thicker. I liked this smoothie. It might be better with a sweeter juice like apple juice or orange juice.
- Snack -- Veggies -- baby carrots and celery. Handful of cashews and almonds.
30 mins later. I had to snack on a banana. I'll eat lunch soon.
Feeling okay. Not pushing myself though. I know I need to exercise but that will start with week 2.
- Lunch -- Roasted veggies -- broccoli and sweet potato. Fruit salad of banans, blueberries and raspberries. the only thing I was looking forward to. See how I can't live without fruit? Oh how miserable I would be. I try and focus on eating more veggies, but it's the fruit that keeps me going.
I kept putting off lunch because I didn't want another salad. Ugh. I just changed to roasted veggies. I like the roasted veggies, but the sweet potato could have been better. It was a purple sweet potato. I think yams for me are better tasting. I've used yams before and like them better. I keep telling myself one more day of this I can do it.
I was trying to think of what wouldn't have made me tired of eating this way -- and maybe some chunky tomato soup or vegetable soup. What's hard about this is I bought in bulk to save money -- so that meant having a lot of the things over and over. I need a bit more variety. I stayed away from squash as I never used if before, but I'll try it one of these days. I hope my tips and notes will help you out.
- Snack -- Rest of my smoothie from this morning. Clementine
- Dinner -- More roasted veggies -- broccoli and carrots. Orange.
Monday -- Day 7
This is a work day. Work days are a little easier for me. I don't have time to think about food and sometimes I don't have time to eat food. I woke up feeling okay. More energy than normal, but dragging from what I felt could have been more sleep during the night.
- Breakfast-- Smoothie and a banana.
- Snack -- orange
- Lunch -- Salad with lettuce, spinach, radish, bean sprouts, green onion, sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds.
- Snack -- Smoothie from this morning. handful of dried cherries, almonds, and cashews. Clementine
I was starving at 6 pm and still at work, but really was way too busy with work. I work in an intensive care unit and things can get crazy. So I tried to snack on the nuts and berries. And ate the rest when I got home.
- Dinner -- Roasted veggies
Last day over! I love fruits and vegetables but I am not creative enough to come up with satisfying meals for 7 days. It was good for me to write everything down I ate. I'm excited for week 2. It's easier to find recipes that have other stuff like beans and lentils. But I'll work on finding good recipes that just use vegetables that I like.
So how did week 1 go for me? It was important for me to show myself and you that I could do anything to lose weight. It was important to detox and redirect my body. You don't get fat off of eating fruits and vegetables. You don't and I pretty much proved that.
Drum roll please............... This is the exciting news:
My first week I lost 4 lbs! Isn't that great for me?!?
I didn't have issues like everyone else did. I get enough fiber so everything was fine in that department if you know what I mean. If you are worried just drink a lot of water. Some people got leg cramps -- so eat enough foods with potassium. I didn't get leg cramps as you know by know I'm a banana lover. I eat honeydew melon, peaches, and spinach too. My calcium intake should be fine with the fruits, leafy green vegetables and spinach.
Are you interested in this challenge? Follow the links I've provided and get creative about making your own recipes.
Serioulsy if I was able to do week 1 you can too. I'm generally a person who eats healthy but has a crazy sweet tooth. I think this has helped cravings I have had. The other part is I was tired of looking at the scale and the numbers not going down. I was tired of looking in the mirror and seeing a lumpy lady staring back. It was time for a change.
My tongue was hurting. I think it had to do with all the citrus and tomatoes I had eaten.
Plan for the rest of Week 2
Week 2 I get to add back in seafood, beans and lentils, and organic soy. I'm excited about eating salmon again, beans and lentils too. Not sure about organic soy. I do not like tofu. But happy to have some protein back! Dusty was saying she was going to have salmon for breakfast the first day. I didn't get it until now. Sounds good now.
Second part of plan is attack exercise hard core. I'm bumping it up and I'll share with you what I do. I'm going to figure out a workout on the days I don't work out. The a mini-workout on the days I work.
Plan for Tuesday and the upcoming week is to have more variety of soups and things I love. I am over the pureed soups. I just don't think they are that good. Maybe I just need to experiement more though. Vegans do it.
How I look forward to week 2! It's funny they say if you're hungry you might be dehydrated. Ummmm... I feel like I'm eating a lot less than I normally do. Some days I do other days I get enough calories. I'm drinking a lot of water. Believe me as much as I go to the bathroom in a day I'm drinking enough water. I can't wait for week 3 either. Week 4 will be adding more things in and keeping up with what I'm doing. But seriosuly I'm dreaming of a meal I can have at the end of challenge and I'm not sure what it should be. Then I thought beef stew -- which would be week 4 challenge friendly. Yes I'm kind of a meat and potatoes girl. Well potatoes defintely. I like them almost any way and I could eat them at every meal. Potatoes are the 4th largest crop. China is the world's largest producer!
- Breakfast -- Smoothie. Fruit
- Snack -- Veggies
- Lunch -- Vegetable soup with chickpeas and miso. Lentil soup. Salad. Fish and veggies. Other types of soups that are challenge friendly. Leftover dinner. Fruit.
- Snack -- Smoothie. Fruit.
- Dinner -- Fish and veggies. Fruit.
Roasted veggies and potatoes. I'm not sure about potatoes. I think they are a vegetable.
Vegetarian chili -- From http://www.cleaneatingchelsey.com/
3 cans diced tomatoes (2 mexican style, 1 regular)
2 cans black beans
2 cans kidney beans
1 can great northern white beans
1 large onion, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
5-6 red potatoes, diced
chili powder, crushed red pepper, garlic, salt and pepper to taste
1. Put all ingredients into your slow cooker and set setting on low for 6-8 hours. I'm thinking that maybe the canned tomatoes could be swapped out for a jar of salsa and a can of tomatoes.
Other option is this recipe Vegan Spicy Chili
or Tomato and lentil soup minus the feta cheese.
I need to challenge myself and try a new vegetable like a turnip or rutabaga. I haven't had tried parsnips. But I'll keep researching recipes. But just remember it's just me so if I make a lot of something I need to eat it all week.
I'll share next week how week 2 went for me. Wow Wednesday posts are becoming really long but I really wanted to share what I did. Hopefully I can help you.
Wow! Did you make it through this entire post? Good for you. Now get out there and try something new.
Link up with me.
Take care lovelies! I love your comments and to see how you are doing.
Whew! That was long, but extremely informative. If I wasn't so picky with foods and believe me I've gotten better, but no where near where you're at. I honestly don't think I could do it.
ReplyDeleteSo happy for you! How great is it to see the number drop like that!
I'm anxious for next weeks post!
Thanks. I actually think I'm feeling better. This has been hard, but I'm determined.
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